“Black Sails” recap (1.02): Rough waters

Previously on Black Sails, Captain Flint led his men blindly on a mission for a Spanish ship worth a lot of gold while secretly looking for a pretty important key to finding it, Daddy Guthrie was NOT murdered, just kidnapped, despite what I said in my last recap, and Max comforted Eleanor…sexually.

We pick up the morning after, and Max and Eleanor are in the same bed, naked as the day they were born. When Max wakes up, she finds Eleanor looking out at the unreasonably beautiful island on which they live, worry lining her face. When Max asks her what’s wrong, Eleanor admits that she is worried about the British coming back. She’s afraid that her trade will be cut off, and that her father will come and be ashamed of her and take over Nassau again. Max suggests buying the island from her father, that they should be partners. Eleanor jokes about Mr. Noonan, presumably the one in charge of the prostitutes in Nassau, but Max makes a vague comment about Mr. Noonan not mattering soon.

Before Eleanor can ask what the heck that means, or why Max looks downright mischievous, Eleanor is beckoned downstairs by Mr. Scott. She says she’ll be down in a minute, but Max says it might be a little longer than that and invites her back to bed.

On Flint’s ship, the pirates are…rioting? In a good way? I think they’re celebrating but they’re being loud and gross and raucous. Amidst the chaos, Billy tells First Mate Gates that he is second-guessing his decision to go along with Flint’s lie.

Billy and Gates go into Flint’s Captain’s quarters and Flint tells them that he knows that the person who really stole the page from the log was on board their ship because he found a feather on the ground and he took Spencer Hastings’s Sleuthing 101.

Somehow, Gates takes this clue that bears as much weight as the actual feather and realizes that they never did search the “cook” they found on board. Gates, Billy, and Flint try to catch him without attracting attention, but John Silver realizes that he’s been made and jumps off (ungracefully) into the ocean below. The crew doesn’t think anything of it; they just assume he’s desperate to get laid.

On the island, Eleanor finally descends from Max’s room and…pays for Max. I have to admit, this weighed heavy on my heart a little. I need to know more information immediately, but there is business to attend to.

Scott tells Eleanor that a new ship has arrived, and the captain has a hefty prize. Eleanor gets the cutest smile on her face before they head off to meet him.

You’d never guess by looking at her that she has the mouth of a sailor.

Meanwhile, in some shady place, Mustachio (surely he has a real name, but every time he’s on screen I’m distracted by his facial hair and mullet) is taking pearls in order to pay for the page Max is offering to sell him. Captain Vane storms in and tells him that he’s being foolish for paying for something that isn’t a sure thing, but Mustachio is clever and gets the captain to let him take the pearls.

LadyPirate didn’t do anything in this scene but brood in the corner, but I still like her more than I should anyway.

Proving Mustachio isn’t the only clever man in Nassau, when Silver gets to shore, he asks three different people directions to three different places, so when Billy and Gates get there and ask which way the cook went, arms fly in all different directions.

Upstairs, Max is…erm…”servicing” a man. He wants to sleep with her, but Max reminds him that Eleanor pays enough to reserve the right to be the only one who has full sexytime privileges. It’s oddly romantic. That weight on my heart is lifted.

Silver bursts through the window and interrupts, which pisses both Max and her customer off. Silver tells her that he wants them to go to Port Royal together after they get the money, but Max hesitates. He looks at her curiously and asks if there’s anything keeping her here.

Even gorgeous when conflicted.

In a beautiful artistic decision, immediately after he asks Max that question, the scene cuts away to a barrel labeled “GUTHRIE” in bold lettering.

Eleanor has gone out to meet the new captain and is talking terms. He doesn’t seem to respect the authority of a woman the way most of the pirates in Nassau do, and says he’ll just take his chances elsewhere. Captain Vane steps in and points out that doing business with Ms. Guthrie is his best (read: only) option.

Vane asks for a word with Eleanor in her office, because he thinks she’s holding out on him and his crew because of their past relationship. She tells him he’s “fucking absurd” (goodness, I love her) for thinking it’s personal. She said he’s simply a poor investment.

Flint comes into the establishment and Eleanor is impressed that he’s still alive AND still Captain. He, too, asks for a word and he takes Vane’s place in her office.

Vane is quite the opposite of impressed at this turn of events and runs around screaming at everyone, demanding to know what happened to Singleton.